Local Student Takes Squirrel Project to National Science Fair

A high school student from Guelph, Ont., who turned her family’s love for squirrels into a research project is set to compete at a national science fair.

“It’s honestly been surreal and crazy because this project just started as a Grade 10 culminating assignment,” said 15-year-old Kira Egete, who goes to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School, in an interview with .

At the end of this month, Kira will join 400 other students in Edmonton for the Canada-Wide Science Fair, which lasts a week.

Participants can earn scholarships and awards while connecting with others who share their interests.

“I’m so excited,” Kira shared, explaining how she created a backyard experiment to see how squirrels react to various colors.

She mentioned that her family’s fascination with squirrels started when they moved to Canada in 2014.

“Back in Serbia, there really aren’t many squirrels.. my family absolutely loves squirrels and we’ve been obsessed with them.”

A look at the world through squirrels’ eyes

This long-standing interest led her to ask: How do squirrels perceive their surroundings?

Kira discovered that like dogs, squirrels have dichromatic vision, meaning they can’t differentiate between some colors.

Dogs recognize blue and yellow but struggle with red and green; this gives them yellow-blue dichromatic vision.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t squirrels have the same thing?'” Kira explained. “My hypothesis was that squirrels would be more attracted to blue and yellow just like dogs.”

Kira’s curiosity about squirrel vision comes from her family’s fascination with these animals. (Emma Breton/CBC)

Backyard experiment, one color at a time

For her study, Kira turned her backyard into a controlled environment for testing.

She arranged five identical pots in different colors (red, yellow, green, blue or grey), making sure to control brightness using an app on her phone that measures light levels. Each pot had sealant applied to prevent scent differences and contained one peanut each.

The order of pots was randomized across trials to avoid bias. A Go Pro camera recorded the action as squirrels interacted with the setup over several one-hour sessions.

Kira’s study took two months to finish. She ran 64 trials but only included 50 in her analysis after the first 14 didn’t attract any squirrels. (Emma Breton/CBC)

From those valid trials, Kira looked into the sequence in which squirrels approached each color.

The results were unexpected for her.

“My hypothesis was wrong. Squirrels preferred red and yellow and least preferred grey.”

She noted that these findings suggest that squirrels might be drawn more towards warmer colors instead of cooler ones like blue and green-contradicting what she originally assumed based on studies of dog vision.

Kira thinks her results could be useful practically.

“In wildlife rehabilitation centers, using red and yellow objects could encourage engagement or if you want squirrels away from bird feeders, you could use a grey one.”

After finishing the study, Kira submitted it for her school’s science fair.

‘She just ran with it’

Alana Harrison, the library technician overseeing the school’s fair praised Kira’s dedication.

“She came to me quite early on saying she was fascinated by squirrels,” said Harrison. “From there she just ran with it.”

A Go Pro camera captured interactions between squirrels and the setup during repeated one-hour sessions. (Submitted by Kira Egete)

Kira advanced from her school’s fair-which had 70 participants-to represent at the Waterloo-Wellington Science and Engineering Fair where she earned a spot at the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Kira mentioned feeling nervous before going into the regional competition but soon sensed she was making an impact.

“There were judges coming up asking questions and telling me I did well. That felt great.”

A part of why she entered was so she could explore more of Canada-especially its mountains.

“I’ve only been in Ontario since moving here; I’m excited about experiencing something new.”

Harrison expressed excitement about seeing what Kira achieves at the Edmonton event.

“I couldn’t be prouder; it’s wonderful because she’s clearly passionate about her project-and witnessing this level of success is amazing.”

The teen’s charitable side

Beyond this science fair project, Kira is already well-known among peers at school.

“She’s an absolute gift,” said Harrison.

“She runs a charity called Hugs and Hand; she’s part of robotics team; runs track-she gets involved wherever possible.”

Alana Harrison admires how much progress Kira has made throughout this journey.(Emma Breton/CBC)P</scrSource link